Despite the prevailing Covid-19, pandemic, more than 4.4 Million Kenyans filed their 2019 tax returns as the filing period officially closed at midnight on Tuesday 30thJune 2020.

This year, more than eight hundred thousand taxpayers filed their 2019 tax returns compared to last year, where 3.6 million Kenyans filed their returns by 30th June. This is equivalent to a 25% increment equated to the same time last year.

The growth in the numbers show positive progress in tax compliance, a move that is anticipated to drive the country towards economic recovery.

Similar to last year, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Service Centers did not experience long ques during the last days of filing, an improvement that is attributed to efficiency of the iTax platform.

KRA has progressively enhanced the iTax system for a better user experience. For instance, iTax has been enhanced to include an auto-populated return for taxpayers with employment income as the only source of income. Taxpayers in this category, whose annual tax returns constitute the bulk of all annual tax returns, are only required to fill in annual pension and tax relief details in the respective fields provided to complete the return process.

KRA acknowledges and appreciates all taxpayers who turned up to file their annual tax returns. Taxpayers are also reminded that penalty for late filing of annual returns for Income Tax Individual is Ksh.2000 or 5% of tax due whichever is higher, while Income Tax for Non-Individual is Ksh.20,000 or 5% of tax due whichever is higher.

Kenyans are urged to file returns early, beginning January of every calendar year, to avoid last minute rush that comes around the 30th June deadline. Just like tax payment, filing of tax returns is an important tax compliance tenet, which is put into account in the measure of a taxpayer’s compliance.

Commissioner Domestic Taxes Department